1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an interactive device with local area time synchronization capabilities, and more particularly to an apparatus, system, and method for programming interactive devices such that internal clocks of the interactive devices are time synchronized.
2. Related Art
Children are often attracted to interactive toys that provide both visual and audio stimulation. As a result, there are a number of articulated and animated toys capable of interacting with children in ways that appear intelligent. Amongst those known in the art and are commercially available include Furby® from Tiger Electronics, Ltd., and Barney® from MicroSoft, Inc. These toys are capable of understanding speech, speaking in a natural language and demonstrating limited animation such as mouth, eye and ear, movements.
Market demands compel creative manufacturers to take traditional, mechanical toys and educational materials and transform them into interactive electronic devices. As expected, such interactive devices appeal to consumers more than their traditional counterparts. However, certain interactive devices require an exhaustive setup procedure that may dissuade consumers from purchasing them. Therefore, oftentimes such interactive devices come preprogrammed by the manufacturer to relieve the user of the burden of having to perform a tedious setup procedure.
Manufacturers are continuously attempting to implement procedures in an effort to streamline the production of such interactive devices. A setup computer or system is often used for streamlining production in order to quickly and efficiently program the devices. This is especially advantageous when the manufacturer has a large number of devices to produce. However, certain interactive devices may require a more extensive setup procedure than other devices. For those devices that include calendar and clock functionality, known systems are currently lacking a quick, efficient, and cost effective protocol for synchronizing the time at the point of origin, such that the internal clock of each device reads the same or approximately the same time corresponding to an ultimate shipment destination for such devices.
One of the advantages of having time-synchronized devices is that each device may generate a triggered response at approximately the same time. Such devices may be more marketable to consumers when viewed upon a retailer's shelf generating audio and visual messages in concert. Another one of the advantages of having time-synchronized devices is that the ultimate purchaser may be excused from the burden of having to undertake a time consuming, difficult programming task as would otherwise be needed to cause the device to function in the desired manner.
A particular interactive device that may benefit from time synchronization at the point of manufacture is a customizable calendar. An example of a customizable calendar is an Advent calendar. An Advent calendar is a popular holiday calendar that counts down the days to Christmas. The traditional Advent calendar, as illustrated in FIG. 1, consists of two pieces of cardboard on top of each other where twenty-four doors are cut out in the top layer creating specific compartments, with one compartment door being opened every day from December 1 to December 24 (Christmas Eve). Each compartment can either show a part of the Nativity story, or can simply display a piece of paraphernalia having to do with Christmas (e.g. Bells, holly).
An electronic adaptation embedding the functionality of an Advent calendar 1 into an interactive device requires the device (i.e., the interactive Advent device) to generate a response indicative of when to open a particular compartment door based upon date and time. In this regard, the interactive Advent device must be programmed relative to the calendar and clock parameters of a traditional Advent calendar in that it must have an internal calendar and clock which is capable of counting down the days to Christmas. Furthermore, the functionality of the interactive Advent device must generate an instruction or an alarm, at a set time, instructing the user to take action relative to the opening a box in a traditional Advent calendar. Therefore, for the reasons discussed above, it would be advantageous for each interactive Advent device to be time-synchronized at the point of manufacture such that the devices run precisely the same date and time corresponding to their ultimate shipment destination. Having a global marketplace allows products like an interactive Advent device to be manufactured, marketed, and sold all over the world; therefore various local customs, such as daylight savings, must also be incorporated into the program. Consequently, the programming of such devices is made difficult as a result of mass production and would require a great deal of manpower and associated costs to individually program each device such that they are time synchronized in a prescribed manner.
Therefore, there is currently a need in the art for an apparatus, method, and system for streamlining the time synchronization capability of an interactive device, such as an interactive Advent device, such that it is efficient, low cost, and versatile to adapt to customized parameters.